Time Twisted
by diopside
Summary: Marco accidentally gets flung into another time period and finds out some things about his future he never would have expected. (Starco, a few swears but nothing crazy.)


Marco was thrown onto his back, hitting a hard floor. He winced at the pain, but sat up and opened his eyes. He had landed in a large, exquisite bedroom, with silver tiled floors and white wooden furniture that seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. A bed with light blue covers seemed to have been made, but a bit wrinkled - as if someone had jumped on it after it had been done up.

What caught his eye the most, though, were the various paintings scattered around the room. Each one had a similar color palette - pastel colors that were inviting and nice to look at. The subjects of the paintings, however, couldn't have been more different from one to the next. One painting showed a field of flowers being attacked by a rabid unicorn, while another was just comprised of dots that seemed to have been splattered into the canvas.

But Marco didn't have much time to admire the artwork before hearing an alarm go off and the words "INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT" blaring in his ears. He panicked and tried to escape, but he soon heard running steps and he door of the room be kicked open. Marco hid behind one of the paintings and held his breath.

Through a crack between two canvasses, Marco could see a familiar woman investigating the room, and he had to stop himself from gasping when he realized who it was.

She was tall, with long blonde hair that reached her waist in a braid. Her large blue eyes scanned the room, and her features were sharp, the twin hearts that sat on her cheeks scrunched up with the rest of her face.

Star Butterfly held her wand out in front of her as she always did when she detected danger, taking small steps and turning her head quickly whenever she so much as thought she heard something.

"I know someone's in here. We _do_ have alarms, you know. So if you really think you're stupid enough to break into my house and get away with it, you've got another thing coming!"

Marco was hopelessly stuck on what to do. Should he reveal himself and reconcile with what he could only assume was an older version of Star, or stay behind the paintings and possibly get his head blown off by her wand?

"If you don't reveal yourself, I'm totally going to turn you into an exploding falcon! It's not fun!"

He decided that the first option was probably better.

"WAIT! Wait wait wait don't shoot me please!" Marco panicked and immediately jumped up, holding one of the smaller canvasses like a shield. Star held her wand out, but said nothing. "It's me, Marco! ...You...do know who I am, right?"

Star examined him suspiciously, but soon lowered her arms, and a smile grew on her face.

"MARCO! But like, teeny tiny Marco! Oh my gosh, I forgot how cute you were!" She ran over to him, lifting him up in her embrace. Marco blushed and cleared his throat.

"Whoops, sorry 'bout that." Star lowered him down, but her smile remained and she flattened out some of the wrinkles her hug had given his hoodie. "What are you doing here, tiny Marco?" Marco wondered by her reaction if the two still had contact in this future.

"Honestly, I don't know. We were dimension hopping, trying to avoid being attacked by Pixtopian fairies for the second time and...somehow I ended up here? I think it was a glitch with the dimensional scissors, but I don't have them with me. Star - well, you have them. In some other dimension." Marco shrugged.

Star nodded. "Oh yeah, magic's like that sometimes. Not sure why you landed here, but I'm so excited! It's like a flashback, but in real life!" she laughed, sounding just the same as Marco knew her.

Marco couldn't help but laugh along with her. Star was just as enthusiastic in the future as she was in the present.

"I guess I'm lucky I ended up with you, though. You think you can blast me back to my time period?" Marco asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'll show you how to get back! Easy peasy! Just come with me and I'll getcha right back in your time period." Star led Marco out of her bedroom and through the grand palace halls. Lining the walls were paintings of all shapes and sizes, some noticeably older than others. One painting showed a past heir to the Butterfly throne, a tall, burly man with a beard down to his feet, bearing a sword and shield, ready to fight. The painting next to that was enclosed in a pastel pink frame, showing a range of beautiful purple mountains and glittery trees, with at least five rabbits happily enjoying the scenery as a large dragon peered out behind the mountains, about to strike. Marco smiled to himself, glad that Star hadn't changed much.

"So, you've taken up painting?" Marco admired more of the paintings on the walls.

Star turned to Marco and smiled.

"Oh, yeah! I got really interested in Earth art during high school. Here in Mewni, the royals would use their wands to make pictures appear. I find making my own art much more interesting!" Marco looked at a painting of a fluffy pink rabbit, but ran over to Star once he realized she was way ahead of him.

 _I hope I live somewhere as nice as this,_ he thought as Star led him through a large, eloquent doorway, the wood frame carefully carved out by the inch. But what was beyond the doorway was even more astounding.

Thousands of books lined the walls that seemed to stretch for stories high. A golden carpet brushed against Marco's feet, and dark brown leather couches were placed all around the room. Signs showed where each genre of book could be found, ranging from "Mewnitarian law" to "pygmy griffin care". The neat freak in Marco was nothing short of amazed.

Star led Marco to a large desk in the back of the room, bathed in the daylight that the floor length windows provided. The windows looked out to a village that he vaguely recognized as Mewni, but it had changed greatly since Star had brought him there. It was more colorful, the citizens looked happier. Unicorns pranced through the clouds and sunlight seemed to reach every nook and cranny of the kingdom. It was truly a sight to behold.

On top of the desk was something else Marco recognized - the large, worn spellbook that Star referenced ever since receiving her wand. Unlike before, though, the book had hundreds of colored tabs sticking out, with labels and notes pointing out the different sections. That was why it didn't take long for Star to go to an orange colored tab labeled "time travel" and scan the page to look for what she needed.

"Wow, you've really gotten yourself organized over the years, huh?" Marco admired the sticky notes containing tips and warnings next to certain lines.

Star smiled. "Well, yeah. I didn't do this though, y-" She loudly cleared her throat, hoping that Marco didn't notice her slip up. Luckily he was too enamored with the library to notice. "My husband organized it."

Marco respected whoever Star's husband was. He had this entire place sorted in every way possible.

"Ah, here we go! 'How to get back to the past'. This shouldn't be that hard. We've just gotta-oh crap. I forgot, we need the dandruff of a pheonix or else the spell won't work right. You might end up in one of the Mewnitarian wars or in prehistoric monster times, and as cool as that would be, I'm pretty sure you don't want that."

Marco shuddered. He certainly did not want that.

She rose out of her chair and gestured for Marco to follow. Outside of the library was the large foyer they had entered from, and beyond that, a kitchen larger than any Marco had ever seen.

She led him to a cabinet full of jars, each one labelled and filled with things he couldn't recognize. Star stood on her tip toes, turning jars and looking for what she needed.

"If only you were here. I mean, the you that exists in this time. You've grown a lot over the years! I can't even reach this."

A man's footsteps could be heard, but Star was too distracted to notice the man walking towards her. Marco, standing off to the side, couldn't see his face, but he was donned in a shirt and tie, and lowered a briefcase before grabbing the jar Star needed.

"This what you're looking for?" he gave the jar to Star, who jumped a foot in the air once she heard his voice. He placed a quick peck on her lips and Marco was now beginning to piece together who the man was. His deep tan skin was framed by a short, brown beard, and his large brown eyes showed worry that was all too familiar to Marco. The mole on his right cheek scrunched up with his concerned eyes, and his dark brown hair was slightly messy, but not too much so. Marco's breath got caught in his throat, and he couldn't speak. Star looked from the older man back to the younger boy.

"Oh man oh man _oh man"_ Star jumped back.

"You okay, Star?" Marco could finally see the man's face as Star started to pace. The man walked over to Star and finally noticed his doppelganger standing in his kitchen. All three of them froze in horror.

"Shit." the older version of Marco let go of his wife's shoulders and ran his hands through his hair, now looking as frantic as Star did.

Star looked over at Marco with sheer worry on her face. There was an awkward silence that everyone was too afraid to break, until older Marco spoke once more.

" _Shit._ " he said again.

"Is...is that?" Marco looked from the man to Star, not sure if he wanted an answer, even though he was pretty sure this was his future self as this point.

Star laughed nervously.

"Marco...meet, uh...Marco!" she clasped her hands together and looked back and forth at the two. "Marco, well, tiny Marco, this is my husband! Who is..also Marco." Realizing that her rambling wasn't making things any better, and that the two Marcos weren't going to say anything to each other anytime soon, just continue to stare at each other in horror, Star began to walk back towards the library.

"Let's get that time travel spell going, shall we?"

Marco's stomach twisted and turned as Star led them back to the library. Her and older Marco walked in front of him, trying to be subtle as they whispered but to no avail.

"How did I- how did he get here? I had 'bringing a past version of yourself into the future' categorized under spells _not to ever use_ , Star!" the older Marco whisper-yelled.

"I didn't do it! He showed up here on his own, I swear!" Star explained. "I heard the alarms go off upstairs and he...you... were just _there_! He was dimension hopping and got stuck here, somehow, and he needs me to help him get back to his time!"

Older Marco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Let's just find the spell to get him back." Star smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Oh, sorry!" Star looked back at young Marco.

Older Marco looked back at his younger self. "Might need to break out the memory wipe spell, too. Don't want myself spending the next ten years of my life knowing what my future's gonna be like.

Marco flushed and looked down at the floor. His mind was a tornado of confused thoughts.

Marco never imagined he would marry Star. They were besties, nothing more...right? They had their crushes, back home - he was still managing a "hey" to Jackie at school each morning, and Star was still head over heels for Oskar.

Marco tried looking at the positives of the situation, since he could see that there wasn't much he could do, and he didn't want to mess with time again. He _did_ get to live in this spectacular palace, and he lit up with pride when he realized that _he_ must haveorganized the library, and the spellbook.

And when he thought about it, Star wasn't a bad person to spend his life with. Now that she lived with him, he couldn't imagine life without her. He wondered what kind of crazy adventures they had gone on over the years. He wondered how they went from friends to...well, _married._

Marco shook his head and followed the two into the library. He didn't want to think about this future right now. He just wanted to get home and think about the present.

Older Marco sat down at the desk, with Star looking over his shoulder.

"Got your wand?" he asked.

"You know I do." Star twirled the wand around in her hand. The two looked at each other and shared a small smile before older Marco turned back to the book. He opened it up to the exact page and pointed out the memory wipe spell. Marco noticed that the wand had a new crystal on it - a red crescent moon, which also glew when his older self brushed against Star's arm. Marco began to blush even more. He was glad his older self decided to wipe his memories first - he wouldn't have to explain the ordeal to his time's Star when he got back.

"You ready?" Star asked Marco. He nodded, and she smiled sadly.

"See you, well, in the future! Or I guess, now, since I'll still be in the past with you. Anyways" Star lifted her wand. The last thing Marco heard was Star chanting "marshmallow memory wipe blast!" before he blacked out.

Marco opened his eyes. He wasn't sure how much time had gone by, but he was in Star's room, and he didn't remember anything. He could only remember running from Pixtopia and a bunch of angry fairies, but that felt very long ago.

"MARCO! You're okay!" Star yelped, taking him in her arms. Marco didn't know what was going on, but he hugged Star back. For some reason, his heart started to beat faster when Star wrapped her arms around him, and his face flushed with nervousness.

He pulled back and tried to stand, but fumbled before Star caught him in a dipping position. She began to laugh, and he laughed along with her.

"Where were you?" She asked him.

Marco tried to remember, but nothing came to him. As far as he knew, he had gone through a portal made by Star's dimensional scissors and ended up back in her room. He must have been gone longer than he thought.

"I have no idea." He shrugged. Star propped him up but kept her hold on him. She began to laugh even more, and Marco joined in.

"Well, I hope you had fun wherever you went, wild man." Star patted Marco's cheek and he blushed. He'd never been so nervous around Star before. He blamed the dizziness - it was just making him more flustered than before.

"I hope so, too." Marco yawned.

Star chuckled.

"It's pretty late, we should get you to bed, ya crazy adventurer." Star loosened her grip on Marco, but he began to fall over again. She grabbed his hands and led him over to her bed.

"Guess you're sleeping over tonight!" Marco winced as he lay down, but soon drifted off into slumber. Star fell asleep not too long after, and the two spent the night in a peaceful slumber.


End file.
